1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cue/review mode of a tape recorder suitable for use in, e.g., a digital audio tape recorder of the rotary head type.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a conventional linear tape recorder, the speed in the fast-forward mode (FF mode) is about 50 to 60 times as fast as the speed in the normal playing mode. As compared to this speed, in a conventional rotary head type digital audio tape recorder (sometimes called a DAT), there is the advantage that the speed in the FF mode can be made extremely high (for example, about 200 times as high as in the normal playing mode) because of the helical recording format. However, since the speed in the FF mode is very fast, it is impractical to search a desired position on a magnetic tape while listening to the reproduced sound or observing the wound diameter of the magnetic tape as in a conventional linear tape recorder. To solve this problem, in the DAT, a high speed search operation and a cue/review operation are used to locate a desired target position on the tape.
In the high speed search, rotary heads come into sliding contact with a magnetic tape fed at a high speed (for example, about 200 times as fast as the speed in the normal playing mode) which is near the speed in the fast-forward mode (FF mode) or the rewind mode (REW mode). A start identification (ID) signal recorded on the tape as a sub code is detected. The tape feeding operation is automatically stopped when the start ID signal is detected. The start ID signal is recorded at the beginning of each music program or the like for about nine seconds as measured at the speed employed in the normal playing mode.
The cue/review operation is then used in a fine search of the tape at positions just before and after the tape position located by the high speed search operation or to search a tape position, for example in the middle of a given music program, where no start ID signal is recorded. In the cue/review operation, the magnetic tape is fed at a speed which is about triple the ordinary reproducing speed in the normal playing mode (the latter being, for example, 8.15 mm/sec) and thus much slower than the speed in the FF/REW mode or in the high speed search mode. In the cue/review operation, all of the information of the sub codes and a part of audio pulse code modulated (PCM) signals are reproduced by the rotary heads. Thus the audio PCM signals are reproduced intermittently. The head search operation can be performed while listening to the reproduced sound.
However, a problem arises in the case of making a search without executing the high speed search operation or in the case of searching a desired tape position where no start ID signal is recorded while listening to the sound reproduced in the cue/review operation. Specifically, when the user of the apparatus wants to feed the tape to a position which is located before or after the current tape position by a few minutes, the tape speed, which is only about triple the ordinary reproducing speed, is so slow that it requires an inordinate length of time to complete the search.